And my world stood still
by mimoji
Summary: Short fic - response to a personal challenge. Mulder and Scully have to send a creature from another time back to where it belongs. Slight Mulder Torture, Scully POV. Feedback very welcome


And my world stood still

Author: mimoji

Spoiler: seasons 1-4

Rating: PG13

Classification: X-File, AU

Summary : Mulder and Scully have to send back a time-travelling monster

Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to Chris Carter and the 1013 productions. I just borrowed them.

Scully POV

A blood curling howl pulled me out of my frozen state. Whatever it was that my partner and I were facing, it was nothing like anything I had ever seen.

The thing was well over a foot taller than Mulder, had the face of an eagle – including the razor sharp beak – fur all over its body, claws like crocodile teeth and the body of a grizzly.

When Mulder had told me about the sighting of a monster I had expected something like an oversized wolf. A confused professor had visited Mulder at work after I had left for the weekend, talking about an invention that allowed *time-travel*. Yeah, right! Granted, science suggested that things like black holes were some sort of natural time machine, allowing objects in space to travel faster than conventional. Theoretically it was even possible to travel back in time. But that's all it is – theory!

However, the professor told Mulder something had gone wrong, that he had unleashed a creature from another time and that he needed help returning it to where it belonged. The problem was, he himself was too old and frail to pursue the creature.

I can only assume that Mulder spent his weekend searching for the creature and when my phone rang at 3:17am on Monday morning and he was dragging me out of bed I was ready to throttle him, especially after I heard what all that was about.

He showed me the device – not bigger than a pen. In fact it looked a lot like a laser pointer, something you'd use for teaching, to point at the blackboard. He said he had an idea where the creature might be and that all he had to do was pointing the laser at it and pressing the button that would send it back to where it belonged. Piece of cake.

I should have known better. With Mulder nothing ever is like a piece of cake. Here we were at the outskirts of Baltimore, just after sunrise, facing a giant eagle-grizzly that looked more than just pissed off.

"Scully?!" I hear Mulder whisper urgently. He was three yards ahead of me, laser in one hand, drawn weapon in the other. "Can you see it?" He almost sounded cheerful, only the slight quiver in his voice told me he was on edge.

"Yeah", I exhaled, unable to close my mouth. Like Mulder I had my weapon ready. The creature was about twenty yards ahead of us, watching us with its sharp eyes.

With every step Mulder took its growling grew louder, its body posture more menacing.

"Mulder", I hissed. "Mulder, stop."

"Can't, Scully. This time laser only works in a five yard range. Gotta get closer."

Cursing under my breath I followed him, gun aimed at the creature's heart, assuming it was where it was supposed to be – in the chest area.

When Mulder reached the ten yards a squealing joined to growling that made my ears hurt and without thinking I lifted my hands to cover them.

Mulder did the same and stopped his approach.

"Scully, you okay?" he asked when the squealing had stopped.

I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see that. "Fine", I whispered.

Mulder started to move again, carefully, step by step, getting closer and closer. I could see him lift his arm and aim for the creature when without further warning it charged him.

Like shot from a bow it needed just one leap to push my surprised partner to the ground, gun and laser flying through the air. Involuntarily I had retreated several steps, my heart racing.

Mulder was lying on his back, absolutely still, his eyes open wide. The creature had one massive paw on his chest, pinning him down effectively, its eyes watching me like a hawk. I was looking around frantically and finally got sight of the laser, a mere three yards away to my left, lying in the grass.

Tentatively I took a small step towards it only to hear Mulder yelp in pain when the creature's claws dug into his chest. I stopped in my tracks, thinking feverishly, trying to come up with what to do next.

Before I could formulate a plan the creature started moving backwards, pulling Mulder along like a rag doll.

"Scully!" he screamed as the creature was gaining speed.

The agony in his voice sprang me into action. I dashed forward, grabbed the laser and set out to catch up to them, noticing I was gaining on them because Mulder was grabbing everything within his reach, like branches, to hold on to and slow the creature down.

It felt like hours but it was mere seconds when I was finally close enough to point the laser. It sounds easier than it was. The creature was moving, I had to keep moving and it was uneven terrain.

I aimed the laser and hit the button. A tree vanished but the monster was still there. I'd missed completely.

My second attempt wasn't any more successful. I would have hit it if Mulder hadn't startled me by shouting "Noooo!"

Another tree disappeared and Mulder was screaming. "Gotta get free!" Oh damn. He was right. If I sent that thing back and it was still holding on to him, he'd be gone, too.

I kept racing after them, trying to figure out how Mulder wanted to get free when he grabbed the low branches of a willow and held on for dear life.

A pained moan from Mulder accompanied the growl of the creature when it realised it had lost its prey.

It stopped in its tracks, turning back just when I came to a halt next to Mulder, lifted the laser and pushed the button.

The creature was pouncing again and Mulder closed his eyes and threw his arms up to prepare for an impact that never came.

In the blink of an eye the grizzly like creature had vanished, leaving behind nothing but Mulder's wounds to prove its existence.

For a minute neither of us moved. We were both trying to catch our breath – me from running, Mulder from being in pain.

Slowly I managed to shake off the stunned feeling and directed my gaze down at Mulder whose chest was still heaving, trying to get his bearing. His shirt was shredded and turning red. Before I knew it I was on my knees next to him, pulling away the shredded shirt to reveal some nasty scratches, some of them quite deep, but nothing that looked life-threatening.

Our eyes met and I smiled at him. Seeing me smile brought one to his handsome, sooty face, too.

"Thank you, Scully", he panted, trying to sit up. "Nice shot."

"Are you in pain?" I queried.

"It's just scratches. I'm fine, Scully", he replied, looking down at his bloody chest.

"Come on, Mulder, let's get back to civilisation and get you cleaned up."

An hour later we were back in DC, or rather in Mulder's apartment. I had shepherded him into the shower to get rid of all the soot.

Now he was sitting on the couch in front of me, dressed in black sweats, a t-shirt in his hand.

"You gonna play doctor now, Scully?" he asked with a leer.

"You betcha. Lay down." I ordered and he complied. I carefully cleaned the scratch marks on his chest, applied some antiseptic ointment and put some gauze on the wounds, strapping it to his skin with a lot of medical tape. I pulled the t-shirt over his head and he stuck his arms through the sleeves, but before I could pull it down over his torso he wrapped his arms around me, pulled me close and kissed me full on the mouth.

I felt like my heart had stopped beating, but only for a split second, then it came alive and I found myself kissing him back. We continued our tongue wrestling until we both had to come up for air, breathing hard and just staring into each others eyes.

"Scully", he said hoarsely between his panting.

"Hmm?", was all I managed to utter.

He took my face into his hands, looked deep into my eyes and whispered sincerely. "I love you, Scully."

And my world stood still.


End file.
